Coriolan

A herbal mossy perfume that becomes sweet by a spicy floral scent. A classic chypre that Guerlain made a virtue of this suggestion of times past with an ad saying, "A perfume like they don't make them anymore." . "عطری که آنها دیگر مانندش را نخواهند ساخت" جمله ی تبلیغاتی برند برای این محصولش. حالا چرا؟ در سال ۱۹۹۸ که شلوارهای زاپ دار و عطرهای آکواتیک تو صنعت مد ترکونده بودن معرفی همچین عطری، دمده بازی به نظر می رسید اما خب... این ترکیب، نتیجه ی علاقه ی وافر ژان پل گرلن به حال و هوای کلاسیک و پس زدن انتظارات سودجویانه مارکتینگ ها بود و نهایتا بین اون موجِ لباس های اسپورت و جین های دهه نودی، کوریولان درشمایل یک جنتلمنِ کت و شلواری و موقر خیلی خوب ظاهر شد. حالا معنی حرف برند رو میفهمیم. کوریولان در اون دوران از آخرین نمونه ها در سبک خودش بود و دیگه عطری مشابهش توسط سایر برندها ساخته نمیشد. . ⚔ژنرال کوریولانوس، جنگجوی افسانه ای و دل رحمِ رومِ باستان که زندگیش در نمایشنامه های شکسپیر و موسیقی های بتهوون هم نمود داشت، حالا الهام بخشِ ژان پل گرلن، برای ساخت رایحه ی جدیدش می شد. رایحه ای به شدت طبیعت گرا و خاکی زمینی با لایه های شیرینِ ادویه ای، رزینی و گلی. . در لحظات ابتدایی رایحه تلخ، مرکباتی و آروماتیکه. حس بوییدن گیاهان دارویی رو میده و کمی حالت صابونی و باربرشاپی داره. اما به مرور یک شیرینی رزینی ادویه ای وارد صحنه میشه، زهرِ تلخی اولیه رو میگیره و رایحه به تعادل میرسه. مقداری از شیرینیِ عطر ناشی از جوز هندیه که شیرینی ای ادویه ای چوبی و کمی مشابه دارچین اما دلچسب تر داره و با کمک صمغ ها و گل ها حس شیرین ترکیب رو در میانه راه تقویت میکنه. در آخر ما شاهد هماهنگیِ زیبای پچولی ترش، خزه و وتیور برای پایان بندی و تاکید عطر بر روی خانواده ی بویایی خودش یعنی شیپغ هستیم. این رایحه ی ترش و چوبیِ نهایی همچنان با شیرینیِ یادشده همراهی میشه و رگه هایی خفیف از حسی گلیِ بابونه مانند و یلانگ یلانگ هم در شکل گیری اون نقش دارن. . شیشه ی عطر که روبرت گارانی اون رو طراحی کرده هم متناسب با اسم و فضای عطر الهام گرفته از ادوات جنگیه. فلاسک مسی که ازش بعنوان جای باروت استفاده میشده و درعکس دوم میبینید. . کوریولان همواره از مردانه های نادیده گرفته شده ی گرلن بود اما چندسال بعد از توقف تولید ، در لاین پاریسیَنز با اسم L'Ame d'Un Héros و در یونیفرم مشترک دورچوبیِ این لاین برای علاقمندان روانه ی بازار شد.

Guerlain Coriolan is a slightly ginger-spicy woody chypre. Especially for men, being unused to them, chypres are an acquired taste - they share a sort of aromatic dry-country tone that can feel uncomfortable at first. When I first started to learn about perfumes I could not figure out what chypre really meant (usually described as citrus, labdanum and oakmoss, often with patchouli, but there were some chypres that listed NONE of those notes). After experiencing many, I now think I have the chypre olfactory gestalt, and Coriolan is fairly typical, with gingery spice substituting for the more common floral embellishment. The top note of Coriolan has a lot of stemmy-bitter-woody citrus (petit grain) followed by a gingery but still rather chypre middle and a classic oakmoss base enriched by vetiver and patchouli. Some people dislike the bottle but I think it is rather classy looking - though it isn't really metal, it looks authentic. Perhaps they don't like curves in a men's bottle, or perhaps they are disturbed that it looks a bit like a middle aged pear-shaped man with no arms and no legs. The Joel Cairo character in The Maltese Falcon is described as carrying a chypre-scented handerchief. I love it when specific perfumes (or types) make it into literature. In this case, it is supposed to be part of his gay persona, but that is more the scented hankie than the chypre. Many chypres are not in the least bit feminine smelling to me, indeed some are quite rough and astringent, more like a workman's calloused palm than a lady's delicate finger.

The last work by Jean-Paul Guerlain. The 90's signed the start of the market's invasion of aquatics and gourmands for men, so Coriolan appeared a bit anachronic, and because of that, it unfairly received a lukewarm welcome by the market. Guerlain re-released it 10 years later in their high-end collection as L'Ame d'Un Heros, but it didn't help a lot for it to become popular, probably because of poor marketing. % years later, it might have been a hit, when 'chypre' was the buzz word for most niche houses. Nevertheless, this is an underrated gem, and that allows for it to still be available to purchase online at very reasonable prices. A beautiful interplay of juniper, coriander and sage, laying on a bed of moss, labdanum and soft vetiver, that navigates in the same waters as 1881 by Cerruti, Comore by Montana and Jazz by YSL. The combo of (slightly) dirty labdanum and moss in the base quite reminded me of another of my favourites: Monsieur by Lancetti. It's an intimate fragrance for the wise man: it doesn't shout, but will leave a sheer bubble around, and gives me peace of mind. This is FM French Lover's forest, but before entering it. A pilar of perfumery in my opinion, and possibly in my top 3 by Guerlain - I'm not saying that lightly. Now I'm going to take a break, close my eyes for a few minutes, and enjoy this beauty.

When I first tried this (I had been attracted by the odd bottle), I was new to the world of men's fragrances, and my nose just wasn't educated enough to understand what Jean-Paul Guerlain had done with this very carefully calibrated fragrance. It didn't please me at the time as much as more obviously "big" citrus-forward chypres that make an immediate juicy impression, like Eau Sauvage or Pour Monsieur; this is much more austere, and also more complex. I think that's why in the end this wasn't the success that Guerlain had hoped when it was first released, but it's such a lovely and thoughtful fragrance that even if it's not going to be a huge crowd-pleaser, it's really going to please me when I wear it. Most of the most famous masculine citrus chypres have the citrus immediately forward, but here the lemon is more muted by the multiple spices, particularly the sage, nutmeg, and coriander. This gives a more delicate sense to the whole thing: it comes across as gentlemanly and refined. You're not going to come across many others wearing this, but this is quite special, and it comes from the era before IFRA regulations made perfumers have to severely underplay the use of oakmoss in their chypres (which has been a disastrous policy as far as I'm concerned). This is really worth seeking out--it's a masterpiece of the genre.

Dear Coriolan. Oh how I miss you! You were the star of the late 90's for me. I know you weren't particularly in fashion and maxpowerboston is 100% correct on everything said, but oh my! If you are looking for something close to this probably your best chance is with Guerlain Heritage, but let's be honest, it isn't the same. This was an absolutely magical scent and Guerlain created a masterpiece with this one. My dream of dreams is that they will bring this back for me to have another chance with it. This mossy, woody chypre can not be overestimated. I am sure it had some performance issues but this was one that a person wore to change their own mood more than to pull compliments. When I wore this as a much younger guy, I felt calmed down, almost like I had been set on the level by an much older person with experience in life. It created a calmness for me that I have never had duplicated since. If anyone knows of anything close to this please let me know. Heritage is absolutely amazing in its own right, but I only detect faint similarities in the base to Coriolan, mainly because Heritage is much more complicated, top/mid. Please come back Guerlain Coriolan!!!